Activists Visit Southern Cities to Learn of Past Civil Rights Struggles

More than 30 social activists from around the country are visiting historic sites in the South this week as part of a major experiential learning initiative to promote intercultural understanding. The weeklong "Freedom Summer: A Civil Rights Journey," sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, an international human rights organization based in Cambridge, Mass., includes a bus tour of major Southern cities that were hotbeds of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.

"We're taking people of all ages from around the country on a journey where they will hear stories told by those who were on the front lines of the civil rights movement," said Kim McDonald, UUSC's senior associate for education and action. "This is the fourth year of a program that consistently inspires social justice advocates to become more effective activists for social change in their own communities."

The group, which ranges in age from 14 to 68, will begin the week in Atlanta and then visit Montgomery, Selma, and Birmingham.

-- On Sunday, July 8, in Atlanta, the group will attend the regular Sunday morning service from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Rev. Martin Luther King's Ebenezer Baptist Church, and will visit the Martin Luther King Center from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

-- In Montgomery on Monday, July 9, the group will visit the Rosa Parks Museum from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., where they will hear stories about the Montgomery bus boycott that ignited the civil rights movement in the 1950s. From 12:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m., they will participate in a lunch and panel discussion at Troy University, and then will visit the Southern Poverty Law Center from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

-- On Tuesday, July 10, in Selma, the group will visit the National Voting Rights Museum from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and experience the "Footprints to Freedom" tour. From 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., they are scheduled to meet and talk with Mayor James Perkins, who participated firsthand in the civil rights struggles of the 1960s and who is serving his second four-year term as Selma's first African-American mayor.

-- In Birmingham on Wednesday, July 11, the group will visit the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum and the 16th Street Baptist Church from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. From 1-4 p.m., they will meet and talk with Christopher McNair, whose 11-year-old daughter Denise was one of four young girls killed in a racially motivated bombing at the 16th Street Church in September 1963.

-- The participants will remain in Birmingham on Thursday July 12 for an all-day community service project with several grassroots organizations working on social justice issues.

-- On Friday, July 13, the group will return to Atlanta for a day of group discussions and reflections on their experiences before departing for their homes.

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee has confronted political, cultural, and economic oppression since 1939, when it was organized to help rescue children and others at risk of Nazi persecution in Europe. Today, UUSC advances human rights and social justice around the world, partnering with those who confront unjust power structures and mobilizing to challenge oppressive policies. For more information, visit www.uusc.org.